Several trends presently exist in the semiconductor and electronics industry. One of these trends is that recent generations of portable electronic devices are using more memory than previous generations. This increase in memory allows these new devices to store more data, such as music or images, and also provides the devices with more computational power and speed.
To reconfigure logic, such as that which is used to store redundancy information for memory macros, electrically programmable or optically programmable fuses are often used. These fuses are generally melted (fused) by means of a high power external pulse provided either by a voltage or current pulse, or a laser pulse. Such fuses or fuse logic may be used to provide address information or other kinds of logic information. The FUSED or UNFUSED states of a fuse are usually sensed by means of a sense amplifier or complex logic circuitry. Sensing or confirming the state of a fuse may be problematic as the resistance is unknown after “fusing” the device.